first lady michelle obama speaking candidly about the health of our nation. even doing the dougie. when she participated in google plus hangout today. the first lady connected with kelly ripa and a bunch of other folks on google's video chat site. including one man who just lost a little bit more than 200 pounds. >> i just want to congratulate you on such a huge accomplishment. i know it's been a challenging journey. but you look amazing and, more importantly, i know you feel amazing. obviously, when my kids were little, they were, you know, weren't faced with the huge challenges you were faced with, but i never talked about weight in the household. we just started making changes. and we made changes in a way

that didn't -- you know, it didn't make them feel badly about themselves. it didn't even make them feel any ownership over it, because truly kids that age can't control what they eat. >> first lady's first google hangout. now, let's look at the dow here. we're still flirting with that magic number, 14,164. that high, right, alison kosik, from a couple years ago, where are we? >> stocks have really been in the red most of the session. i'd say about an hour ago, stocks made a turn into the green column. as you see. the dow now up 36 points. that magic number everybody's looking for is for the dow to hit 14,164. it looks like the dow's about less than 50 points, 40 points away from that record high. you know what's interesting, the spending cuts, brooke, you remember, they did go into effect late friday night. wall street apparently just sort of shrugging it off. wall street doesn't seem to care at this point. >> we're almost there, we're getting closer. talking to you every day, hoping to hit the number eventually.

we will, hopefully, alison kosik. thank you, as the closing bell rings on this monday afternoon. i'm brooke baldwin. thanks for being with me. let's go to wolf blitzer. >> brooke, thank you very much. we're keeping watch on some of the busiest airports. are they feeling the pinch of forced budget cuts? there's new evidence that hillary clinton's working relationship with the president wasn't as cozy as they claim. ambassador dennis rodman. the white house weighing in on kim jong-un's new pal. i'm wolf blitzer. europe in "the situation room." -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com it's the first full day, work day i should say, since the forced budget cuts went into effect. most americans probably haven't felt a thing.

at least not yet. president obama's credibility though is being tested. after the various warnings he's given about the impact of those cuts. some very dire. some more cautious. our national political correspondent jim acosta's over at the white house with the latest. jim. >> reporter: wolf, president obama is insisting that americans will start feeling the pain from these forced budget cuts now going into effect. while the white house is rejecting the notion that it's engaging in any kind of hype, one cabinet secretary today had to admit that he got some of his facts wrong on some of the impacts. from the table in the cabinet room, president obama warned the consequences of those automatic budget cuts are coming to kitchen tables across the country. >> it is an area deep concern. i think everybody knows where i stand on this issue. we are going to manage it as best we can to try to minimize the impacts on american families. >> reporter: the department of homeland security says reductions in overtime for customs workers resulted in long lines at international airports around the u.s. over the

weekend. >> we are already seeing the effects at some of the ports of entry, the big airports for example, some of them had very long lines this weekend. i would say 150 to 200% as long as we would normally expect. >> reporter: a spokesperson for secretary janet napolitano cautionled sed she was not refe to tsa checkpoints. the agency won't fill up to 1,000 personnel vacancies by memorial day weekend. passengers we found said they're not feeling it yet. >> sequestration hasn't hit for us yet and we're pretty regular travelers. >> reporter: the white house may be undercutting its case with some budget hype. consider education secretary arne duncan who now says he misspoke when he claimed last week teachers were already receiving pink slips. >> i want to apologize for not being as clear as i should have been. when i said pink slips, that was probably the wrong word. i should have used job eliminations. >> reporter: what is the administration doing to make sure these numbers are not

hyped? because might that undercut your message? >> here's the thing, if you disagree with the cbo and with outside economic analysts who say that up to three quarters of a million jobs will be lost, well, you should make that case. there's no way to do what the sequester calls for and not create these negative effects. >> reporter: americans may not be feeling the punch but there are plenty of spending cut punch lines. over the weekend, the "s" in "snl" stood for "sequester." >> we no longer have full body scanners so we're asking everyone to take a picture down their pants and text it to us. >> reporter: both sides appear not willing to pass a measure that will avoid a government shutdown at the end of the month. >> i'm hopeful the house and senate will work through this. >> reporter: white house officials say they hope that the congress will replace these forced budget cuts by closing some tax loopholes but a top gop aide tells cnn he doesn't

believe, quote, there is any chance they can increase pressure enough to raise taxes again. translation, these cuts may be here for a while. >> even as the cuts are here, the president met with his cabinet today. he made it clear, you know, as important as the whole issue of these forced budget cuts issues, he wants to move on, talk about comprehensive immigration reform. he's got a whole agenda out there. >> reporter: that's right. that top gop aide i talked to said were the president to try to replace this forced spending cut measure, this so-called sequester, he would have to spend all of his political capital and do away with some of these efforts to bring about immigration reform and gun control. so that republicans are basically saying at this point, you want to go after these cuts, you want to replace these cuts, it's going to cost you. >> jim acosta over at the white house, thanks. a stunning breakthrough in the treatment of hiv. doctors announcing they've cured a child who was born with the virus. something that's never been done before. the question now, could this lead to a cure for more than

1,000 babies born around the world with hiv every single day. our senior medical correspondent elizabeth cohen is joining us. she's been looking into this major development. >> reporter: what we're finding out is that this action, this occurrence that has taken place, it wasn't a fluke, it was actually the result of a mother who didn't listen to doctor's orders. it's a startling announcement. doctors say they've cured a 2-year-old in mississippi of hiv. the infection she'd had since birth, gone. >> it's fantastic news from any number of angles. of course that a child has been cured. that this actually happened really quite easily and quite inexpensively. >> reporter: the cure came about as kind a fluke. the baby was born to an hiv positive mother and the baby was hiv positive too. she was put on hiv drugs but the mother, for some reason, stopped giving them to her when she was about 15 months old.

she was taken back to the doctor just before her second birthday. the doctors found the baby was hiv free, even though she'd been off medication for five months. >> what fantastic news. this is something i don't think anybody would have expected. >> reporter: the key to success here might have been that the baby received relatively high doses of three hiv drugs soon after birth. usually hiv positive newborns get low doses of one or two drugs after birth. if other babies can be cured after just 15 months on drugs, that would be huge. now hiv positive babies take these drugs for life and they can be toxic. more studies need to be done, but this case may have inadvertently paved the way for other babies to have a brighter future. i just spoke with the baby's doctor and she says that the baby is doing great. she's completely healthy. she is not on any hiv drugs. >> is this little girl, elizabeth, 100% hiv free?

>> not 100%, wolf. when they look with very sensitive tests that are used only in research labs, they can find little remnants of hiv dna in her body. it doesn't have any effect on her. she's not sick. but because she has those remnants, you can't say she's 100% free of hiv. some doctors are calling this not a cure but what they call a functional cure. >> functional cure. what does this mean going forward? where do we go from here? >> well, you mentioned earlier, wolf, about 1,000 babies a year, a day, rather, are born around the world are hiv. those babies are put on these drugs for life. it's expensive. those drugs can be toxic. so if this can be -- this proof of principle turns out to be true, you can take babies off these drugs after, let's say, a year, you wouldn't keep them on for life. that would be a huge advantage for babies around the world. >> huge difference indeed. elizabeth, thanks. later, i'll be speaking to the world-renowned expert on aide,

doctor anthony fauci of the department of health. that interview is at 6:30 p.m. eastern. britain's queen elizabeth is out of the hospital and back at the palace after a bout with a stomach bug. the 86-year-old was smiling and walking on her own when released today. they said it was a precaution. the first time in a decade the queen was hospitalized. she's called off her official engagements for the week. over at the vatican, catholic cardinals are now holding talks before they start choosing the next pope. we're told they still haven't decided when the process will officially start. a dozen cardinals who will be involved in the conclave still are making their way to rome, four days after pope benedict's resignation. a spokesman says a new pope could be chosen and in place within two weeks. now the words we keep hearing over and over again this winter. there's another big snowstorm on the way.

alexandria steele is in the weather center in atlanta. we're going to get hit pretty hard here in washington? >> wolf, you've only had an inch and a half inside the beltway the whole winter. you've heard a lot words. but in washington, you're actually 13 inches below average. you could use a little snow. you are going to see it. it will be the biggest snow thus far of the season for washington and baltimore. let me show you where this storm is right now. essentially, here's the area of low pressure, right in the dakotas. what's going to happen, this storm, this area of low pressure, will move south and east and take the snow and the wind. this, too, is a wind event with it. with that, minneapolis, 6 to 12 inches. chicago, tomorrow, tomorrow is a midwest affair. tomorrow, from minneapolis to chicago to indianapolis, 6 to 9 inches, chicago. indy, 12 to 18 potentially. again, back tomorrow. here comes the little caveat with this thing. this is pretty certain.

we're going to watch this area of low pressure drop south and east. take the snow and bring the wind with it. but what happens here, which we've seen, this area of low pressure drops south and east but what happens, this area of low pressure transfers this energy to a developing area and a coastal low. so it becomes kind of a different animal, so to speak. warm air, because of this counterflow around this low, brings the warm air in. around the coast we could see some rain. then what happens with this low, does it move north or does it move east? it looks as though we're going to see snow potentially 5 to 10. could this snow move north of that? what happens if this low moves east, then it stays a washington, d.c./baltimore affair. if it moves further north, it could po pen chul lpotentially bring the snow further north. that's what looks like will happen, wolf. we'll see it in the midwest.

we'll see it in washington on wednesday. wednesday is the travel tough day for washington and the mid-atlantic. theen we'll see what transpired as this low begins to move. does it move north or does it move east. >> we'll be ready. >> we'll know more throughout the east. >> we'll be working. thank you. we're learning more about the shocking death of an 87-year-old woman inside a california retirement home. the staff refused to give her cpr, despite desperate pleas from a 911 operator who recorded it all. cnn's miguel marquez is in bakersfield, california. he's joining us now with those recordings. it's pretty shocking to hear it. but explain what happened. >> reporter: shocking to say the least, wolf. bakersfield police say they're investigating this case to see if there are any criminal charges that could be brought. >> we need to get cpr started. that's not an option. okay? >> yeah, we can't do cpr at this time -- >> okay, hand the phone to the passerby. if you can't do it, hand it to the passerby. i'll have her do it.

if you've got any senior citizens there, i'll have them do it. >> no. >> reporter: beyond shock, a nurse at this care facility for the elderly flat-out refuses to help 87-year-old lorraine bailless when she collapsed on the dining room floor. >> is there anybody that workings there that's willing to do it? >> we want do that -- >> we're just going to let this lady die? >> that's why we're calling 911. >> we can't wait. she can't wait right now. she is stopping breathing. >> reporter: the 911 operator practically begs the woman at the facility who identifies herself as a nurse, to either help or find someone who can. >> no, it's not -- >> anybody there can do cpr. give them the phone please. this woman's not breathing enough. she's going to die if we don't get this started. do you understand? >> i understand -- >> okay. >> i am a nurse but i cannot have our other senior citizens who don't know cpr -- >> i will instruct them -- >> -- in the dining room -- >> i will instruct them. is there anyone there who's willing -- >> i won't do that. >> i don't understand why you're not willing to help this

patient? >> i am but -- >> okay, great, i'll walk you through it all. emt takes the liability for this, colleen. this is ems protocol. >> reporter: instead of helping, the woman seeks out a supervisor. the tennessee company, brook dale senior living, that owns the bakersfield facility says the woman was hired to be a resident services director, not a nurse. and that glenwood gardens facility is an independent living facility and is not licensed to provide medical care to any of its residents. the facility says it followed its protocol by calling emergency services and staying with the patient till emergency personnel arrived. now that 911 operator at the very end of that call, all she does is sigh. the 911 personnel show up, they take the woman to the hospital. she expires at the hospital here in bakersfield. the company, glenwood gardens here, is saying they're conducting an internal review to see how all of this happened and whether their own internal

protocols were broken. >> do we know how long it took for those emergency medical personnel after they got that 911 call to reach the scene? >> reporter: it took six or seven minutes. i was just, just spoken to a former fire department employee here who says they responded several times to this place and it's the only location he knew in town that would not perform anything. not just cpr, but even if somebody fell down, just fell off their chair, wouldn't even help that person up into their chair unless emergency services were called and they came to do it, wolf. >> miguel marquez, thanks very much for that report. we're also getting a surprising inside look right now at president obama's foreign policy team. we're hearing about some bitter rifts he had with the former secretary of state, hillary clinton. also ahead, dennis rodman's new friendship with north korea's leader earning him a slot on a sunday talk show. the white house is not amused. and later, what made the first lady, michelle obama, so nervous. i know what you're thinking...

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imagine that. chevrolet. find new roads. in hillary clinton's final days as secretary of state, we heard a lot about her very warm relationship with president obama. now we're hearing a very different side of the story about some old political tensions that have resurfaced. brian todd has been looking into this story for us. >> reporter: according to one former state department insider, wolf, those tensions go back to the 2008 presidential campaign. the new book details how secretary of state clinton had to fight to get her voice heard at the white house. and how her top deputy himself a foreign policy titan was almost shut out completely. a former state department insider is out with an explosive new book detailing rifts between president obama and hillary clinton and her top deputy.

valerie nasser worked for richard holbrooke when holbrooke was at the state department under clinton. nasser writes that holbrooke and clinton had a good relationship but holbrooke and sometimes clinton were frozen out at the white house. quote, both clinton and holbrooke, two incredibly dedicated people, had to fight to have their voices count on major foreign policy initiatives. holbrooke never succeeded. nasser believes it was mostly due to political bitterness. people closest to president obama, nasr writes, wanted to settle scores for holbrooke's tenacious campaign support of clinton who was herself eyed with suspicious by the obama insiders. at times it appears the white house was more interested in bringing holbrooke down than getting the policy right. we could not get nasr to speak with us on camera. former assistant secretary of state james rubin worked with holbrooke and albright in the clinton administration. he called holbrooke the consummate foreign policy professional.

>> clearly some personal grudges, some concerns that richard holbrooke was in the minds of the obama white house, too big for his britches. played out in the making of policy toward afghanistan and pakistan and that's the tragedy. >> reporter: nasr depicts a president who did not have time to listen to holbrooke. even though holbrooke was tapped with being a key point man when afghan president hamid karzai, quote, holbrooke was not included in obama's teleconferences with karzai and was cut out when obama went to afghanistan. >> look, in the end, he's a big boy, he knew what he was getting into, and the obama administration knew what they were getting into. unfortunately, not every personnel pick works. and clearly there were many people inside the administration who wished that the president had never chosen richard holbrooke for this important job. >> reporter: on the question of holbrooke not being included in teleconferences with karzai or in the afghanistan trips, one

white house official told us that it was not customary to include state department officials in presidential video conferences with president karzai. and she said secrecy surrounding presidential trips to afghanistan made it impractical to take holbrooke on those trips. we could not get a response from hillary clinton to nasr's book. richard holbrooke passed away in december of 2010. >> vali nasr who wrote this new book, not officially coming out for at least another month, right? what he says is the president did not only fully embrace secretary of state clinton or holbrooke but relied on others that vali nasr said weren't necessarily up to the job. >> essentially neophytes just in tune with the political side of things. he said the president had a disturbing hakt habit of funneling decisions through the kabul of inexperienced white house advisers whose turf was

strictly politics. we could not get a response from the white house. >> we'll have nasr in "the situation room" once his book comes out. i should point out he's the dean of the johns hopkins university school of advanced international studies. this is where i graduated from so i know him. thanks very much for that. he's a very serious, good guy. "saturday night live" springs a surprise. and it has to do with the pope, "the situation room" and me. we're going to reveal all. that's coming up. [ dog ] you know, i just don't think i should have to wait for it! who do you think i am, quicken loans? ♪ at quicken loans, we won't make you wait for it. our efficient, online system allows us to get you through your home loan process fast. which means you'll never have to beg for a quick closing. one more way quicken loans is engineered to amaze. bonkers, look at me when i'm talking to you.

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crews have resumed work at a tampa home where a man was swallowed up by a giant sinkhole. lisa sylvester is monitoring that. what's the latest?

>> wolf, sad to report that the 37-year-old jeff bush has been declared presumed dead. he was asleep last thursday when the crater opened up under his bedroom. crews plan to demolish the rest of the house before they begin stabilizing the sinkhole. two nearby homes have been evacuated. bush's family say they are discussing plans for a memorial service. so-called smoking gun e-mails have been unveiled in a wrongful death lawsuit filed by michael jackson's mother and his children. trial is set for next month. the e-mails reportedly suggest that concert promoter aeg live was worried about jackson missing concert rehearsals and sought dr. conrad murray's help to get the pop star ready. murray was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in jackson's death. less than 100 points to go before the dow hits an all time high. the dow added 38 points to push closer to its october 2007

record of 14,198. wall street, though, is shrugging off the political mess over forced spending cuts and concerns that china's economic growth is slowing. the s&p 500 and nasdaq also ended the day up. all right. who wouldn't want to be on this list? forbes magazine is out with its annual tally of the world's richest billionaires. after more than a decade in the top three, warren buffett now claims the fourth spot. ortega is number three. microsoft founder bill gates is second. at the number one spot, mexican telecommunication mogul. his reported net worth, $73 billion. we're gearing up to report on the real-life selection of a new pope. if you're a fan of "saturday night live," you saw the announcement right here in "the situation room." take a look. >> good morning, i'm wolf blitzer, and this is "the situation room."

this week, with the catholic church mired in scandal, the conclave of cardinals gathered to select a new pope. what can you tell us? >> there's speculation that the front-runner is cardinal peter turkson from ghana. if selected, he would be the first african pope, which some say would signal a new more progressive catholic church. >> he'll need to be a dynamic fresh face capable of moving the church into the 21st century. >> wolf, i need to interrupt you. there is white smoke rising from the sistine chapel. meaning that a new pope has been selected. and here come the cardinals. and from the looks of it, the new pope is not turkson. the new pope is 9-year-old oscar nominee quvenzhane wallis.

>> wow. i don't think anyone saw this one coming. well, i think i speak for all of us when i say, go, pope-y, go, pope-y, go. >> the new pope is riding a cardinal like a horsey. >> oh, look at that. wow, i could watch that all day. how about that? horsey rides in the vatican. that's got to be a first, but probably isn't. >> yes, wolf, she is cute as hell. >> is she enough to turn the fortunes of this beleaguered church? >> is the pope catholic? >> she is not and i don't think anyone cares. when we return, scientists find a cure for cancer and it is -- [ mumbling ] >> do i mumble? >> they got the beard part right. they got the theme music wrong. overall, it was a good laugh. >> he did a good job. >> you've been on "saturday night live" before and you've been a feature there.

>> as i tweeted, i'm flattered when they do that. they mention "the situation room." >> exactly. it's good publicity for us. it's good publicity for you. everybody loves it. >> he's good. he needs the glasses. the beard is good. jacket is good. "the situation room." >> exactly, they got that. you got new glasses, i remember that. >> thank you. much more news coming up here in "the situation room." some kids have a pressing question for the first lady. >> hello, mrs. obama. our favorite dance move is raise the roof. >> let's see. oh, yeah. >> what is your favorite dance move? >> we're going to reveal what the first lady's favorite dance move is. that's ahead. right here in "the situation room." mm. some laxatives like dulcolax can cause cramps. but phillips' caplets don't.

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let's dig deeper into those explosive reports about possible rifts that occurred between president obama and his former top diplomat, the then secretary of state hillary clinton. let's discuss in our strategy session. the democratic strategist and cnn contributor paul begala. also joining us, cnn contributor david frum. the author of the book "why romney lost," also a former bush white house speechwriter. you saw brian todd's report. vali nasr, who worked for holbrooke, now the dean here in washington, a well-known, very smart guy. he says there was a serious problem. you know hillary clinton well. was there a serious problem as far as you know? >> no. in short, i'm sorry to be so blunt. look, dr. nasr is an impressive person. i could be wrong but i think this was his first posting in the government. and we need foreign policy experts. we also, sometimes people who don't know politic, they're shocked that politics and personalities sometimes cause friction. like they say at nascar, rubbing

is racing. i've been at this a long time. the relationship between the power players at state, the white house and defense, was as good as i have ever seen. we remember in the reagan administration where state and defense in weinberger and shuttshultz weren't even talking to each other. in rumsfeld's, they didn't get along. this worked quite well for obama and clinton. i don't know the specifics about what dr. nasr's saying but i think it's par for the course. >> i'm outside of my area of expertise with this interdemocratic politics so i have to be mindful of the limits of what i know. here's what one heard a lot about in 2008. it was a very bitter race between president obama and the future president obama and hillary clinton. and richard holbrooke was a very partisan figure. and was making phone calls all other washington. saying to the young people or the secondary people who had defied the hillary clinton machine that they would regret it. that there would be consequences. and some of those people were

bold and still nonetheless aligned with president obama thinking they were going to get their rewards. only to discover that hillary clinton became secretary of state and all of holbrooke's threats actually came true. if you supported obama, you got a worst job in the obama administration. so there may be some ill feeling about that. this is not my area, but i don't believe in -- >> let me move you back to your area, mitt romney. you wrote a whole book about why he lost. he was on fox news yesterday and he said this -- >> i still care. and i still believe that there are principles that we need to stand for. i look at what's happening right now. i wish i were there. it kills me not to be there, not to be in the white house doing what needs to be done. the president is the leader of the nation. the president brings people together. does the deals. does the trades. knocks the heads together. the president leads. and i don't see that kind of leadership happening. >> he was pretty blunt. help says it kills him not to be

in the oval office right now, leading on the sensitive issue of these forced budget cuts. >> one of the things i thought was very hopeful and interesting about what mitt romney said was his acknowledgement that the sequester is bad news. this is not our first step toward a rational deficit reduction program. it's bad news. and if we could at least al agree on that, we could get away from these cuts that are landing on the defense budget. $47 billion is going to come out the defense budget between now and the end of the fiscal year. even as the united states is winding down two wars. this is not the way to go. i'm glad mitt romney is saying that. >> everybody agrees this is not the best way of cutting spends. across the board, meat clever spending. they would like to do it with a scalpel but we haven't come up w a deal. >> with all due respect to mr. romney, he ain't the solution. i'm glad it's killing him. i'm glad. because you know it's killing the middle class. at least he's suffering a little psychic pain. as it's killing him as he said

in that incredibly sellish statement we just saw, he was sitting in a $12 million mansion that he bought for cash, wolf, and now you know what he's going to do, he's going to tear that mansion down, build one four times bigger with an elevator for his car and yet he only pays a 14% tax rate. that's what he ought to be talking about. he should have stood up yesterday and said, look we are in a world of hurt. wealthy people like me should not use this romney rule loophole by which they only pay 14% on a $20 million income. that's what he should have said. he could have really helped his country -- >> he's not doing anything illegal, that's the law. that's the income, that's what you pay. >> absolutely -- >> he doesn't have a salary. if he had a salary, he'd pay 39%. >> if he were a waiter, he'd be pay a higher tax rate than the 14% he's paying as a multimillionaire. perfectly legal but it's an outrage. >> a perfect example of why we are in so much trouble. that is a statement of fiscal policy. you can't say this enough, that washington's consumed with who should pay how much tax, how

much more tax, and who should get how much less benefit. meanwhile, we have an economic crisis. we're now entering year six. and it is not met by increasing taxes and cutting spending in this year. you want to get to prosperity first. and the idea that you're going to say, what we're going to organize the country around is resenting what mitt romney had. >> it's not what he has, it's what he refuses to pay. well, the loophole he takes advantage of legally. that's an outrage. fundamental fundamentally, mitt could have done that as well. he created million also of jobs in china and made millions himself. he could have said, look, we need short-term growth, we need stimulus and long-term deficit reduction. he could have said a lot things instead of just whining -- >> speaking of the coming days, at the conservative political action committee, cpac, here in washington. >> if he set his mind to it, he could potentially have a lot.

mitt romney commands a lot of resources, both financial and other kinds. if he's willing to invest the patient effort to build a voice for a more governing kind of republicanism. we have a lopsided party. we have a strong organized self-conscious you might call it a right wing. but the wing that is -- that features people like chris christie and the former mitt romney, that wing is unrepresented. if we had some kind of coherent organization that said republicanism is also about governing. that it's not going to be about the kind of message that you hear from some of the more destructive and nilistic voices in the party, he could be a very powerful figure. >> you want to add anything? >> he is the clueless joe jackson of the republican party. do the republicans a favor, stand down, go away, enjoy his very lovely family -- it was smart that at least half that interview was with his wife. she's very impressive. i always felt like the wrong romney was running. >> you have to let it go, but it's -- i think there's a little

bit of superpac money still in -- trying to spend it and he's doing it here on cnn's air waves. >> a note for viewers. jake tapper will interview the former florida governor jeb bush tomorrow on the 2016 presidential race. a whole lot more. you can see jake's interview with the former florida governor. that will air right here in "the situation room" tomorrow. the basketball star, we should say, the former basketball star, dennis rodman, can't stop gushing about his new best friend. the north korean leader, kim johnen. up next, the white house is now weighing in on their surprising relationship. [ male announcer ] at his current pace,

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he's former basketball star, he's certainly been a reality tv star as well, but who would have pegged dennis rodman as a guest on one of the major sunday talk shows? it's another strange twist to the already very bizarre story of rodman's friendship, yes, friendship, with north korea's leader kim jong-un. let's bring in tom foreman to "the situation room." you've been taking a closer look. we use the word bizarre. it's all very bizarre. >> kind of took a bad bounce on him. looked like it was going to be one of those friendly sports diplomacy stories. it really, really turned into something else. never much for diplomacy during his nba days, rodman now has the diplomatic world calling foul after he visited north korea, partied with the secretive leader kim jong-un. >> i love him, the guy's awesome. >> reporter: then a jaw-dropping interview on abc. >> he's my friend. i don't condone what he does. but as far as a person, a

person, he's my friend. >> reporter: that was the theme for rodman even as the host, george stephanopoulos, repeatedly asked about accusations of the north korean regime starving, imprisoning and murdering its own people for many years. >> he's a great guy. he's just a great guy. if you sit down and talk to him. >> a great guy would puts 200,000 people in prison carps? >> well, you know, guess what, we do the same thing here. the kid's only 28 years old. 28. he's not his dad. he's not his grandfather. he loves basketball. now, obama loves basketball. let's start there. >> reporter: at the white house, no word on president obama's reaction to that overture but it was made clear the administration is not amused. >> north korea ought to be focusing on its own citizens and opportunities to improve their lives. and the united states has channels of communications directly with the dprk and those are the channels we choose to employ. >> reporter: rodman told abc

he'll go back to north korea if he can and he took pains to pass on a key message from king jong-un. >> he want obama to do one thing. call him. >> he wants a call from president obama? >> that's right, he told me that. he said, if you can, dennis, i don't want to do war. i don't want to do war. he said that to me. >> i can't get over that one picture. it looks like they're sitting there at a knicks game. rodman was in north korea as part of a documentary, working with hb to o air the program. we'll let you know, cnn and hbo both owned by time warner. after that interview went south, rodman's publicist immediately pulled the plug on all the other interviews that were coming up, including one with you. so i don't think we're going to hear anything from him in the near future or if we do i think it will have a different tone. >> we probably will at some point. because he's dennis rodman. >> he's never been that quiet i suppose. >> he's not a shy guy. >> no, he's not a shy guy. i'm not sure i'd take money that he'll actually go back to north korea despite him saying he wants to. >> i think there's a lot more to

the story. we're going to continue checking into it. tom, thanks very, very much. as we're about to head into what we call march madness, a lot of people can't stop talking about the ending of this high school basketball title game in new york state. take a look at this. new rochele was about to lose to mount vernon. when he steals the pass. the 55-foot shot with less than one second on the clock. at first the ref said it was after the buzzer. but then they reversed the call. obviously, cue the celebration. look at this. watch. >> and mount vernon's going to hold on to win. hang on. oh, goodness! are they going to count that? no! they're wiping it off! >> you got to give him a lot of credit. amazing. all right. congratulations. the first lady michelle obama calls herself mom in

chief. you're going to find out what she says she'd never talk about over at the white house with her daughters sasha and ma lae. that's next.

now to the manhunt in new york. police believe they identified a suspect behind a horrifying hit and run crash that killed a pregnant woman and her husband. the couple's newborn was delivered but sadly he too has died. now this tragic story for us in brooklyn. what happened? >> reporter: this story is so heartbreaking that it gained widespread attention far beyond this insular community. people here clinging to hope the baby would live. now they're dealing with a

triple tragedy and they're demanding justice. their baby was considered a miracle. born by c-section after both his mother and father were killed by a hit and run driver. one day after his parents were killed, the baby of nathan and razee also died. it deepened the pain of the religious community of hasidic jews where mourners stood shoulder to shoulder in the street for funerals of the young couple. both were 21. their brother is turning to his faith. >> whoever did not go through this can't even contemplate what this is. to lose a sister and her husband and more at once so suddenly. god created this world. this was his will. this was what he wanted. this is what he did. and we accept it. >> reporter: as the shaken community mourns, police search for the hit and run driver who fled the scene early sunday. police put out this photo

identifying 44-year-old julio as a man wanted in connection with the crash. the family was on their way to the hospital in a cab because pregnant racy did not feel well. police say a bmw slammed into them, going over 60 miles per hour. in this community, which abides by strict religious rules, women didn't want to talk publicly out of concern of modesty. people struggled not to show emotion. but in a place so tight-knit, they say a tragedy like this one spares no one. >> we believe that now -- the parents and the child are now at peace in heaven. >> reporter: the rabbi we spoke with said this wasn't about two families being affected, this

has touched everyone here. police say the suspect that they are looking for had a prior criminal record and that involved a murder charge dating back to the 1980s and a dwi charge as late as this february. police -- we have not been able to verify the suspect's records. wolf. >> what a story, what a sad, sad story. a tragic story. our deepest condolences to the family, to the entire community, shocking development. mary snow, thanks for that report. the first papers that are being released right now. and talking about his relationship with his son, george w. bush, and at types he got frustrated, at times he was oh so proud. up next, the story you'll get first right here on cnn. anyone have occasional constipation,

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...and we inspected his brakes for free. -free is good. -free is very good. [ male announcer ] now get 50% off brake pads and shoes at meineke. now to the first lady, michelle obama. she's out promoting her let's move campaign and taking the motto to heart. she seems to be everywhere these days from her surprise oscar appearance to today's event, what's called a google hangout online. cnn's erin mcpike is joining us with more. >> reporter: wolf, mrs. obama is trying to raise awareness for

childhood obesity. according to the cdc, obesity has doubled for children in the last 30 years. more recently, she's been encouraging schools to get gym classes back into kid's schedules. and today, she answered basic questions from parents, teachers and the third grade class and gave some of her personal tippings. she calls herself the mom in chief. now that her as lessant daughters are getting a little older and into those pecky teenage year, you might be interested to know she doesn't talk about weight at home because she thinks it's bad for their self-esteem. now, the first lady also says she keeps apples all over the white house because it's her family's go to snack. get this, mrs. obama said she makes mall lae and sasha outside to take their dog outside to really work him hard. she said balanced diets are important for dogs too. she doesn't have magical advice on how to get younger children to eat better. she said the same thing you and i probably heard when we were little.

>> there are kids out there that would give anything to have that wonderful lunch that you have because they don't have a lunch at all. so we have to think about them before we throw something out. >> reporter: now, not all of the questions today were about the bottom line. if you're still wondering about that much buzzed about oscar appearance last month, well, it turns out that even the most famous women in the world get a little nervous. take a look. >> i was a little more nervous than i thought i'd be. i thought i'd drop the envelope. i thought i'd get the name wrong. >> reporter: well, at least she didn't trip like jennifer lawrence, wolf. if you want to ask the first lady a question, she's taking questions again on twitter on wednesday. her handle is @flotus, wolf. >> erin, thanks very much. and you're in "the situation room." happening now, those forced spending cuts are official. the first workweek is now under way. after all the dire warnings. so what's the real impact so

far? a heartbreaking battle between a defiant surrogate mother and the parents of a baby with severe medical problems. and bush 41 writes about his relationship with bush 43. first on cnn, an advanced look at the papers released by the first president bush. we want to welcome our viewers in the united states and around the world. i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room." -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com after a steady drum beat of ominous warnings, those forced spending cuts are now official. so where is the damage? or is this just a lull before the real storm? lisa sylvester's checking the impact so far. what's going on now and down the road, lisa? >> so, wolf, you know, it wasn't quite the fiscal cliff that we all thought it would be.

it was more like a downhill slope. so the immediate impact of the forced budget cuts or sequestration as we like to call it here in washington, well, not much. but that doesn't mean that it won't have an effect on you in the coming weeks and months. lots of warnings of doom and gloom. >> march 1st, it is a day that the indiscriminate across the board spending cuts that will cause unemployment, unstability and uncertainty in our economy, takes place. >> reporter: but the first monday after sequestration looks a lot like the day before sequestration. not much has visibly changed. at los angeles seaports, no major problems or backups reported. in chicago, the aviation authority tells cnn no immediate problems at o'hare. no real slowdowns for passengers traveling through atlanta's hartsfield airport either. but those budget cuts will start showing up. just not yet. >> you know, monday mornings our busiest day and it went well this morning.

we're not anticipating any problems. my biggest concern, to be very honest with you, is the furlough issue. they've talked about the furloughs possibly happening between -- and they wouldn't take place till into april because you have to give 30 days notice. >> reporter: what will cuts look like? it will vary agency to agency. customs and border protection says furlough notices will start going out at the end the week. they will take effect some 30 days later. overtime has been eliminated. that means those traveling internationally may have a longer wait. and it may take longer for shipping containers to be processed at u.s. ports. the irs says work eers will fac one furlough day per pay period but not till after the firing season. that could last from summer to the rest of the year. low-income families receiving nutrition assistance through the women's infant's and children's program, or wic, could be affected as well, but not until

after march. popular tourist spots may be affected. the smithsonian institution is looking at $40 million in budget cut. a spokesperson tells cnn it will put off repairs and implement a firing freeze but keep the doors open. >> it's 20% cuts. one day a week, only 80% of the people are there providing the services that they provide. so it's a gradual reduction. over time, you'll notice. >> reporter: the biggest impact will be on the defense department civilian workforce. 800,000 of them are expected to get furlough notices. and that will have a ripple effect throughout military towns in the united states. the public will also notice other changes. the military's popular air demonstration team, the air force thunderbirds, and the navy's blue angels, those shows will be danced for the rest of the week. >> thanks very much, lisa, for that. did the obama administration go overboard in warning about these forced spending cuts? let's discuss with our chief national correspondent john king and our chief political analyst

gloria borger. gloria, let me start with you. i want to play a clip. this was the president meeting with his cabinet earlier today. >> now, my agenda obviously is broader than just the sequester. because i laid out both in the inauguration and during the state of the union a very robust agenda to make sure we're doing everything we can to grow this economy and to help families thrive and expand their opportunities. >> certainly look, to me and to a lot of other folk, he's walking back some of the dire warnings he delivered a few weeks ago. >> it's a little less armed good armageddon today, wouldn't you say, than it was a few weeks ago. i would sense -- the president was saying these cuts would start right away, it's going to be dire. when that didn't happen at the stroke of midnight on friday,

that they worked against themselves to a certain degree. and so now i think the white house is waiting for the effect to snowball, as lisa was pointing out, so more and more people feel them. and then they believe they can possibly get republicans back to the table. >> it's a reminder of how last week was all about politics and not about finding a solution to this. he may have been raising the expectations of dire consequences far too high. republicans were saying let this play out. the interesting test now for the president as he waits for these consequences to kick in and maybe give him more political leverage, he's in a race against time in the sense that in congress especially in the senate you have democrats and republicans, the appropriatoapp already talking about a continuing resolution, to fund the government for the rest of the fiscal year. keep things at sequester level. keeping the $85 billion in place with no tax increases. you have democrats and republicans just beginning, this can go off the tracks easy but they're beginning a process that could say, hey, look, we're making progress, mr. president, without restoring this funding.

but he may not see the money. >> i want to add a little bit of good news here, which might be if they get this deal to keep the government running at the end of march, say, through september, then in september there's a possibility i believe that the democrats can say, okay, we got our tax increases. republicans got their spending cuts. then maybe room for some kind of a grand bargain. just saying. >> that would be good. john, you saw that story in "the washington post" over the weekend suggesting that the president's now obsessed with 2014, getting a democratic majority not only in the senate which he had but in the house of representatives. that's what his real goal is right now. >> we've talked about this in the past. is that his real goal? the white house says he's trying to advance policy and good policy makes good politics. being of course he'd love to have a democrat majority. john boehner said right out of the box at the inauguration time the president's trying to annihilate us. so whether it's 60% true, 50%

true, somewhere in the middle, that is the mind-set of everybody involved here. democrats think we have a chance. why do you think nancy pelosi hung around? a chance to have pelosi be speaker to give the democrats control the house one more time? and the republicans think everything the president says, even when it's not true, the republican calculation is this is all about 2014, about taking the gallow away from our speaker. that is why under no circumstances they agree to a tax increase seven weeks ago. they're not going to give the president a second tax increase now and then get into negotiations where they might get a third one. in a word, that's suicide if you're a republican. >> and that's why the white house probably sort of miscalculated when they came up with this whole sequester deal because it included tax increases, closing loopholes, that republicans would never buy on to. i think the white house is trying to do this, clearly win the 17 seats they would need to take over the house. they're playing against history. usually in the sixth year of a presidency, the president loses seats.

the exception to that rule was bill clinton. who won seats in his sixth year. but he was at a 65% approval rating when he did that. right now, president obama is at 49%. but he does want that house back. >> how do you get republicans to lose seats? you get the incumbents to vote for tax increases. another thing that angers the conservative base. then they face primary challengings. the more conservative one wins. maybe if it's in swing districts, maybe you can't win in november. >> and they gained 17 seats in the house of representatives to get the majority. >> what's interesting to me about president obama is he's never been known as sort of team democrat cheerleader. he's got his own independent brand. he's raising money for his independent group which will of course help democrats. money's not going to the democratic national committee which it always did with bill clinton as you'll recall. >> in this case, helping them helps him. >> all right, guys, thanks very much. president obama announced more changes to his second term

lineup card. he's nominated a business woman, the walmart foundation chief, to head the office of management and budget. that's a tough job these days as president obama battles with congressional republicans over spending. the assistant epa administrator gina mccarthy is the pick to head the environmental protection agency. and ernest moniz, an nit scientist, is in the lead to lead the energy department. a number of new faces in top posts. just ahead, an ex-governor goes through a bitter divorce but reportedly asked his ex-wife to run a new political campaign. and also the first deadly sinkhole destroyed part of a florida house. now authorities take down the rest of the house to see what they're up against.

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sinkhole. while it smashed it into pieces, it exposed the raw emotions for the family of the man who died. down in florida, not far from tampa. what's the latest, george? >> reporter: right now, all that is left is the foundation of this home. you can see that work is still going on. crews are still in the process of filling the sinkhole with gravel to try to stabilize the ground around it. all the work done with the greatest of care because, remember, this is the place where a man lost his life. and family members wish that more could have been done. slowly and carefully crews tore down the walls. they tried to spare pictures, the family furniture and even an american flag, but the search for jeffrey bush who died here after being swallowed by a sinkhole, has already ended. for bush's brother jeremy -- >> i feel they could have tried harder to try to get my brother out of there. >> reporter: the memory this family is able to salvage here

will never be enough. >> it's really hard. you lose somebody you're so close with, he lives with you, works with you. around him 24/7. the only time was when you were sleeping or in the shower or in the bathroom. it's hard. it's really hard. >> reporter: wearing his brother's hat, jeremy bush watched with family and friends as heavy equipment tore through the house, revealing the place where jeremy heard his brother screaming and tried to save him. from the air, you can get a glimpse of the sinkhole believed to be some 50 feet deep. on the ground, you could even see the 80 foot arm of the machine plunge down deep, past the foundation, pulling up debris. the goal is to get the house removed, the slap remopped, so we can see the sinkhole. we don't know if the house is going to fall in but we're going to take every precaution to remove debris if we can. when you look at what's happening here, it's very

delicate work. on either side are hopes that had to be evacuated. crews are concerned the sinkhole could continue to grow. then say the ground is too unstable for people to get too close. but jeremy bush disagrees. he believes crews should be able to do something to get his brother. >> they had a hard time pulling concrete up. he's in the ground, why couldn't you -- get that long arm, have somebody hanging from that arm, trying to dig my brother out? >> reporter: the day ended with a burial of sorts. the family gathered the memorials left by will wishers, dropping them into the claw the backhoe. the backhoe then dropped those memorials into the sinkhole that has now become a grave. we're back live with a picture here in florida where you see the work continuing at this home. and, wolf, we did confirm another thing. we learned there was another sinkhole situation in a nearby neighborhood at a home in this case no one injured. again, this is a reminder of just how scary, how common,

these sinkholes are here in the state of florida, wolf. >> all right, george, thanks for that update. we'll stay in close touch with you. mean wwhile meanwhile, royal watchers can rest easier after the queen's release from a london hospital. lisa sill vestster is monitoring that. >> the queen was released after being treated for symptoms of a stomach bug. she was admitted yesterday as a precaution. she had the stomach flu and an inflammation. it's the first time the queen has been hospitalized in a decade. and in kenya, there are hopes that sporadic violence isn't a sign of things to come after today's presidential election. a correspondent said she came across the bodies of five people in one coastal town while two bomb attacks were reported at polling station, in a border town. a police station came under fire last night leaving ten people dead. observers for the carter center say they see no reports of

intimidation. cardinals are deciding when to hold the conclave that will choose the next pope. more than 140 cardinals met today but not all will get to vote on the next leader of the catholic church. a vatican spokesman says a new pope could be in place before march 15th. that would give him more than a week to prepare for palm sunday. and new harvard grads will hear a commencement address from one of the world's most successful women. she will deliver that address may 30th. harvard's president said winfrey is one of the, quote, great american success stories. it's the school's 302nd graduation ceremony. i am not surprised. i think she's done stanford. she's done princeton. >> soon she's get an honorary degree as part of that -- >> usually they do. i can tell you what, that's going to be an interesting speech. she had that lance armstrong interview. >> oprah's amazing. >> i'm a big oprah fan.

>> she deserves an honorary degree. coming up, washington has spent months pressuring iran to end its nuclear program. with a new diplomatic team, could this strategy finally be working? and a surrogate refuses to back down after a family changing its mind about the baby she's carrying. >> said i should try to be god-like and have mercy on the child and let her go. >> and what did you say? >> told them it wasn't their decision to play god. target is in sight. yes, dad, i see him. now pour some chloroform into a white rag and.... no. hi. i understand you're looking for a hotel with a pool. with priceline express deals, you can save big and get exactly what you need. do i have to bid? use the stun gun. he's giving you lip. no! he's just asking a question. no bidding. awesome. get the grappling hook to... dad, i... no? ok.

secretary of state john kerry has a full plate of problems in the middle east. trying to bring israelis and palestinians together. looking for a solution to the

syrian civil war. now there's a new twist coming in from iran. our foreign affairs correspondent jill dougherty is traveling with the secretary. >> reporter: wolf, on this leg of his international trip, secretary kerry is stepping right into the thick of middle eastern politics. and that troubled triangle, the united states, israel and iran. in riyadh, saudi arabia, a surprise addition to secretary of state john kerry's schedule. a working lunch with palestinian leader mahmoud abbas. >> i'm going to have a meeting with him. i look forward to the meeting. and it's part of the process of moving through this region. >> reporter: kerry is trying to breathe life back into the peace process. but had to skip israel on this trip as israeli prime minister netanyahu struggles to form a government. the israeli defense minister

ehud barak speaking to a pro-israel conference in washington, says israel has to try to reach some kind of an agreement with the palestinians. >> we need a peace initiative with the palestinians. a two-state solution is the only viable long-term solution. >> reporter: back in riyadh, another hot-button issue for kerry. iran and its nuclear program. >> the talks will not go on for the sake of talks. and talks cannot become an instrument for delay that in the end make the situation more dangerous. so there is a finite amount of time. >> reporter: the saudi arabiay foreign minister was more blunt. iran, he says, has not proven to anyone it's sincere in negotiating. it's stringing out talks, he said, while it builds a nuclear weapon. >> all options including military force, are on the table. >> reporter: in washington, the tough talk continued. >> big nations and presidents of

the united states cannot and do not bluff. and president obama is not bluffing. he is not bluffing. [ applause ] >> reporter: iran's ambassador to the united nations, in an interview with cnn's fareed zakaria, singled out biden and said iran is ready for direct talks with the u.s. but not if it's being threatened. >> the most important point is some official in united states should understand how to speak with iranians. >> reporter: all of this, a prelude to president obama's own trip to the middle east later this month. wolf. >> jill dougherty, thank you. bold statements by iran's ambassador to the united nations. let's hear a little bit more from fareed's interview with mohammed kazi.

>> if united states is honest about proposal for negotiation, cooperation, talks with iranian, iranians will accept it and will welcome it. i can confirm it here with you and also for your distinguished audience that iran welcomes negotiation. provided that we make sure that u.s. is serious and do not act differently. >> let's discuss what's going on. cnn's fareed zakaria is joining us. he's also editor at large of "time" magazine. along with richard haas, the author of the forthcoming book "foreign policy begins at home." let me start with you. how significant is this latest exchange of verbal blasts, shall we say, or views from the iranian ya, the u.s. and the israelis? >> significant within the context of a very complicated relationship. so to makes an

offer, or this is two weeks ago, let's try to have direct talks between the united states and iran. the supreme leader of iran khomeini a couple of days later seems to dismiss that. he says, you know, the americans keep threatening us, we don't want to talk to them. then we get approached. we have good relationships and maintain constant communication with the iranians. and so we get approached by them and they say -- they offer to come on the program and the ambassador says, you know, i can confirm for you we are ready for direct talks and he goes on to parse khomeini's speech saying he didn't mean to say no talks, he just said, you've got to respect us, uyou've got to talk straight to us. within the context of this complicated business, it does sound like they're trying to say, look, there are circumstances in which we will do direct talks with the united states. >> i wanted you to weigh in, richard, but also in the context of what israel's prime minister

benjamin netanyahu said today as well. listen to this. >> we have to stop this nuclear enrichment program before it's too late. and i have to tell you, from the bottom of my heart, with a clarity of my brain, words alone will not stop iran. sanctions alone will not stop iran. sanctions must be coupled with a clear and credible military threat if diplomacy and sanctions fail. >> all right. so go ahead, richard. go ahead and weigh in. >> well, what this all tells you is how extraordinarily difficult it's going to be to avoid an armed confrontation. you essentially have multiple clocks running at different speeds. you've got the technological advance of iran, day in, day out, towards getting closer and closer to a nuclear weapons capability. you've got the negotiating clock, which is barely running. and then you've got the

decisionmaking clock in israel. the israelis are very concerned that if they don't act sooner rather than later, their moment for ever acting will have disappeared. somehow synchronizing these three different time clocks, if you will, i think is going to be, as i said, extraordinarily difficult for the united states, which wants to avoid either having to go to war, on one hand, or on the other hand, live with an iran that actually has nuclear weapons or something awfully close to it. >> you remember, fareed, when the president was campaigning back in 2008, he was repeatedly reaching out to create a dialogue, even after he took office. he wanted to create a dialogue with iran. nothing happened. is it realistic to think there could, right now, be direct u.s. iranian talks on the nuclear issue? >> well, you know, it's a tantalizing prospect. these two countries are not spoken to each other for 30 years. there have not been direct conversations between iranians

and americans at the governmental level. but yet one day it does seem as though that is the only prospect to break the logjamg. if you think about nixon and kissinger when they went to china, it had been about 30 years that no americans and no chinese had ever spoken. nixon took an even bigger risk politically because the whole republican party was lock step in favor of relationships with taiwan. taiwan was china, it had china's veto in the security council. and yet nixon did that. so part of the problem here is the politics everywhere is an additional complication to the clocks that richard was talking about. if obama talks to the iranians, you know what the republicans are going to say. iran has its own politics and there is going to be opposition to talking to the united states. they have hard-liners too. >> it's interesting when you listen to what the israelis say, obviously, what joe biden said today, richard, but you know, you also listen to what the saudis say. they are as hard line on opposing an iranian nuclear

weapon as the israelis are, it seems to me. what do you think? >> the saudis and some of their neighbors are against an iranian nuclear weapon. more broadly against what they see is this iranian push for regional privacy. it's one of the reasons they're so upset about what is taking place in syria. but the question we have to be careful about is just because the saudi leadership and others say you can't allow iran to have a nuclear weapon, what would happen if the united states were ever to use force. wolf, you know this part of the world, as obviously does fareed. i don't think the united states can be assured that the people on the streets of saudi arabia or in any other arab country would rally around the united states or israel. as much as they dislike the idea of iran having a nuclear weapon. so one of the dozens of considerations we have to take into account would be what would be the implications for regional stability of an american use of military force if it were to come to that. >> before you go, i want both of you to weigh in be the

extraordinary interview that george stephanopoulos did yesterday on abc with dennis rodman, the former nba star, just back from a visit to north korea, where he became i believe the first american to meet with kim jong-un, the north korea leader. listen to this exchange. >> he asked me to give obama something. he want obama to do one thing. call him. >> he wants a call from president obama? >> that's right, he told me that. he said, if you can, dennis, i don't want to do war. i don't want to do war. he said that to me. >> all right. first fareed and then richard. very quickly, what do you think of that? >> well, i don't try to watch john kerry playing basketball, and i don't take seriously dennis rodman on geopolitical issues. i think what he did was very important and i think it has a positive effect in terms of creating relationships between

the two societies. between opening up north korea. as to specific negotiating and diplomatic advice, i think he's a great basketball player. >> richard. >> i look forward to george stephanopoulos playing for the knicks about as much as i look forward to dennis rodman continuing his new career in diplomacy. this is not serious stuff. it's a distraction. the real question is whether china will use the influence it has over north korea to rein them in. but if we're going to depend upon former basketball players to carry out our diplomacy, we're in worst shape than i thought we were. >> richard haass and fareed zakaria, thank you. fareed, excellent job with that interview yesterday as well. always good to see news being made on "gps." appreciate it very much. coming up, amfter a divorce most people don't want anything to do with their partner. most sanford isn't most people. you'll find out why the former governor of south carolina wanted to hire his ex-wife for a make or break job. we are all reflections of

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talk about politics and strange bedfellows. when he was the governor, mark sanford disappeared from the state, was really in argentina to visit his mistress. he and his wife went through a bitter divorce and he's now engaged to that one-time mistre mistress. now he's running for congress and it's reported he asked his ex-wife jenny sanford to run his campaign. let's bring back our chief political analyst gloria borger who is looking into this story. originally reported in "new york" magazine with the punch line that said sanford said to his ex-wife, i'm quoting, i could pay you this time. what's going on here? >> i think he gives new meaning to the notion of being self-involved. don't you, wolf? from my reporting today, it's very clear to me jenny sanford was pretty taken aback by this request, but when you look at it

for political reasons, you can understand exactly why he asked. first, she'd run some previous campaigns of his. so she's got the experience. also, it would not only amount to an endorsement but it would also be telling the people of the state that i think my ex-husband, no matter what else occurred in our marriage, has an awful lot to offer to the state. so she turned him down, wolf, as one mice expeght expect, but th was made. >> there is some speculation she might decide to run for that seat. >> there was, and she's a former banking executive. she's got considerable personal wealth. as i said before. she's also got a lot of political experience. so there were people who were coming at her saying, you know what, you could clear this field if you ran. and i was told today that she's got -- they have four boys. she's got a couple of sons who are still at home and that may have been part of her calculation in deciding not to get involved politically. i wouldn't say it's out forever

but certainly this time around. >> any reaction from the former governor? >> about her -- >> about this notion of inviting her to run the campaign? >> well, i did not speak with the former governor, but i did speak with some people who were working on his campaign. and i said, does this all affect this campaign? you know, it's a crazy race to begin with, wolf. there are 16 people running in a republican primary to replace now senator kim scott so it's a crazy race. the primary's going to happen at the end of the month. asked some people, is there a gender gap in this race given his own personal history. the answer was, we have no polling to indicate that there is a gender gap. i asked, does it come up a lot on the campaign trail? are these questions asked? and i was told, no, no, no, these questions are not asked. that doesn't mean that people aren't thinking about it. you know, it's not that long ago, wolf, and sanford hasn't kept his private life all that private. he talks about it quite a lot.

>> we'll see what happens in that special election for the republican nomination. >> we will. interesting race. can't make this kind of stuff up. >> no, you cannot. >> thank you. >> just ahead, a family faces a brutally tough decision, whether to have a child with severe birth defects. the surrogate they hired to carry the baby made her own decision. >> i can't tell you how many people told me i was wrong, i should go have an abortion. a talking car. but i'll tell you what impresses me. a talking train. this ge locomotive can tell you exactly where it is, what it's carrying, while using less fuel. delivering whatever the world needs, when it needs it. ♪ after all, what's the point of talking if you don't have something important to say? ♪ if you don't have something important to say? with the bing it on challenge to show google users what they've been missing on bing. let's bing it on.

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we're just getting this in. an extraordinary chain collision on a colorado highway as a massive winter storm sweeps across the country.

interstate 70 in vail, comlorad, is closed in both directions because of a 30-car accidents. authorities have not been able to find out if there are injuries or fatalities. the state transportation official says it will be a fairly lengthy closure. let's hope for the best. when a couple hires a surrogate, they entrust that person with their hopes and their dreams for a baby. one couple, the journey turned into an anguished ordeal. cnn's senior medical correspondent elizabeth cohen is joining us from the cnn center with more on this very, very painful story. elizabeth, what happened? >> reporter: surrogacy stories usually have happy endings. but in this case, the arrangement went horribly wrong. crystal kelly was thrilled when a couple hired her to be their surrogate and carry their baby. the husband and wife were ecstatic too. finally they'd have the child they'd been longing for.

>> she said be pray for a little girl. i want a little girl. and she got a little girl. >> reporter: was it the little girl she wanted? >> no. >> reporter: ultrasounds halfway through kelly's pregnancy showed the baby girl growing inside her had severe heart defects. a brain abnormality. and other medical problems. >> they said she had a less than 25% chance of being able to have a normal life. >> reporter: inside the hospital in connecticut, the parents, heart broken, ask kelly to have an abortion. >> i refused. i couldn't do it. i was the one who was feeling her kick and squirm. knew she had a fighting spirit. i wanted to fight for her. >> reporter: the parents pleaded with kelly. genetically, this was their baby. she was just carrying her. >> they said that they didn't want to bring a baby into the world only for that child to suffer. they said i should try to be god-like and have mercy on the

child and let her go. >> reporter: what did you say? >> i told them that it wasn't their decision to play god. >> reporter: strong convictions. but would she betray them for the right price? kelly was a single mom. money was tight. through the surrogacy agency, the parents said they would pay her $10,000 to have an abortion. when you saw that $10,000 figure, did you think, maybe i'll do it? >> in a weak moment, i asked her to tell them that for $15,000, i would consider going forward with the termination. >> reporter: the parents refused her request. and kelly says she quickly regretted asking for the extra money anyways. deep down, she knew she could never abort under any circumstances. once again, they were at a stand off. cnn reached out to the parents. they didn't respond to repeated

calls or e-mails and we're not naming them. legally, they couldn't force kelly to have an abortion so they proposed, if you have this baby, we'll give her up and she'll become a ward of the state. >> i'm not going to let her become one of those forgotten disabled kids. that gets lost in the system. >> reporter: kelly made a bold decision. informing the parents at the last second she left the state. pregnant with their baby. >> packed up my van with everything that i could carry, threw my kids in the car. and we drove for two days to michigan. >> reporter: under michigan law, kelly would be the baby's mother. you were making a decision for a baby that was not genetically yours. >> i can't tell you how many people told me that i was bad, that i was wrong, that i should go have an abortion, that i would be damned to hell. >> reporter: she spent the final

months her pregnancy in michigan and gave birth last june. >> hey, little baby! >> reporter: and here aers the baby today. she's 8 months old. to protect her privacy, we're not naming her or the family kelly found to adopt her. along with her cleft lip and palate, she has severe heart and brain problems. she'll never risky surgeries to survive. but in many other ways, she's developed like other babies. she smiles, babbles and grabs for toys. >> some people would say, why bring a child into this world who you know is going to have such huge medical problems. >> and i say that it's not fair to not give them a chance to overcome them. what if she doesn't walk though, what if she doesn't talk? she's still a happy little girl who's going to bring joy into the lives of everyone who knows her. >> reporter: when you see here now, how does that feel? >> it gives me a lot of joy.

i know every single thing i did was worth it. >> elizabeth joining us now. what an amazing story. elizabeth, anything could have been done to avoid this situation? >> i've been talking to lawyers about this. they said, look, a surrogate and the people who want to hire her should have an honest discussion beforehand. what are we going to do if something is wrong with the baby. and crystal kelly, the surrogate, said that discussion never happened. >> what a story. all right. elizabeth cohen, thanks very much for that report. when we come back, bush 41 writes about his relationship with bush 43. first on cnn. we have an advanced look at the letters by the first president bush.

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first on cnn. the former president bush has never written an auto biography, but coming closer tomorrow and he releases an updated collection of 700 pages of letters and other writings. they talk of his time in retirement and relationship with the second president bush. >> i'm thankful to the american people for the great privilege of being able to serve as your next president. >> they are the words of a father about the day his father took over a family legacy. the fat lady sang and the ordeal ended. words by george h.w bush as never before seen by the public. and now the houj new chapter with the push family opens up. a letter to a close family celebrating his son's victory

after a bitter court battle and challenger, l gore. >> i accept the finality. >> george hw bush had stood in those shoes. i suddenly fell for him and saw him as a man whose disappointment had to be overpowering. i knew he must be hurting. i felt quite different by al gore. the competitive juices for the next eight years. station out of the media spotlight and frustrated as his son was attacked. i talked to george. i told him the sooner he got back than the other. i totally agreed. the vultures are circling saying he should have come back sooner. the president has been attacked over and over again. first for being late in moving and then for overflying louisiana on the way back to

washington. and then the relief and attacked for the 2004 election. liar was used to describe the president. hatred filled the airwaves and oozed into the print media too. >> part was empathy and part was a father sticking up for his son. they have a proud father and one mail sent to george w on the day saddam hussein was overthrown, subject line very personal for potus. it was pride, yes, but an overflowings of joy from all you have given your mother and me over the years. bar and i are at your side. i hope you can feel it. we will stay out of the way and i am there beside you. overflowing with happiness and he ended that e-mail with a prediction. one only history can judge.

only tough times, and hence worth here and a blaud there will never be doubts about our commander in chief. a closer look at george w. bush's relationship with another president, bill clinton. in our next hour, a breakthrough in the treatment of hiv. i will speak with the point man on infectious diseases. ♪ my friends are all around me ♪ my friends, they do surround me ♪ ♪ i hope this never ends ♪ and we'll be the best of friends ♪ [ male announcer ] introducing the reimagined 2013 chevrolet traverse. all set? all set. with spacious seating for up to eight. imagine that. chevrolet. find new roads.

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come to meineke now for a free code scan read and you'll say...my money. my choice. my meineke. >> per here's a look at this hour's hot shots in kenya. a woman's finger is marked after casting a vote in indonesia. lightning over the jakarta skyline. a sand cloud passes through a city and in the dominican republic. hot shots and pictures coming in from around the world. happening now, budget cut reality check from the airports to your kitchen table. who is feeling the pinch? rifts revealed. the obama-clinton relationship is listed as we were told. dennis rodman gets a reaction. the white house weighs in on his strange relationship with north korea's leader.

medical breakthrough. aids expert on a child who was cured of hiv and a retirement home horo. an elderly woman denied cpr is dead and audio tells the story. is on assignment. you are in "the situation room." >> on this first monday after the fourth budget cuts went into effect, most americans are not feeling the pain. the pain that the president and other officials were warning about about. president obama said it's only a matter of time, but how soon will it start to hurt and how much of a hurt will there be? let's bring in jim acosta over at the white house. jim?

>> president obama is insisting that americans will start feeling the pain from these forced budget cuts going into effect and while the white house is rejecting the notion they are engaging in budget hype. one secretary did acknowledge he had facts wrong when it came to the impacts from the cuts. >> from the table in the cabinet room, president obama warned the consequences of those automatic budget cuts are coming to kitchen tables across the country. >> it is an area of deep concern. everybody knows where i stand on the issue. we are going to manage it as best we can to minimize the impacts on american families. >> the department of homeland security said reductions in overtime resulted in long lines for airports around the u.s. over the weekend. >> we are already seeing the effects at some of the ports of entry, the big airports, some of them had long lines. 150 to 200% as long as we would

normally expect. >> a spokesperson for janet napolitano said she was not referring to tsa check points. expect those to spike late nert spring as they won't fill up to 1,000 vacancies. passengers said we are not feeling it yet. >> we are pretty regular travelers. >> the white house may be under kwuting the case considering arnie dunk know who misspoke when the teachers were receiving pink slips. >> i want to apologize when i said pink slips, that was probably the wrong word. i should have used job eliminations. >> what are they doing to make sure the numbers are not hyped. might that under cut your message? >> here's the thing. if you disagree and with outside economic analyst who is say that up to 3/4 of a million jobs we lost, you should make that case.

no way to do what they call for and not create the negative effects. >> americans may not feel the punch, but there punch lines. the s in snl stood for sequester. >> boor we no longer have full body scanners so we asked them to take a photo down the front of their pants and text that to us. >> it's no surprise both sides appear willing to pass a measure to avoid a government shut down. >> i'm hopeful that the house and senate will work through it. >> house republicans have come up with something that may be described as a sequester softener and reduce the impacts from the cuts on the defense department and a slew of other federal programs like border protection and the fbi and all of this will go into the bill averting a government shut down at the end of the month. no word from the white house or senate democrats as to how all of this plays to them.

>> for won't impact the amount of the forced budget cuts. >> i talked to a top gop aide about this and he said it doesn't lessen the amount of deficit reduction. it does it in a less dangerous way. there were concerns on both sides that the cuts would be too severe and national security would be put at risk according to secretary of defense leon panetta and this is going at those concerns. we will have to see if any of this can get past the president for signature. >> something will get past because they are not going to shut down the government with a high degree of probability. you never know. thank you. a new warning from the obama administration that it's serious about stopping from developing nuclear weapons. joe biden speaking to the biggest lobbying group. >> the big nations and presidents of the united states

cannot and do not bluff and president barack obama is not bluffing. >> we are not looking for war. we are looking to be ready to negotiate peacefully. all options including military force are on the table. >> biden setting this space for the president's upcoming visit to israel later this month, the first visit to israel as president of the united states. john kerry already is in the mideast trying to breathe back into the peace process in saudi arabia. he had a surprise addition to his schedule. a working luncheon with the palestinian authority abbas. we are getting a new and candid look inside the foreign policy team and his relationship with hillary clinton when she was the secretary of state. they gushed about how well they worked together and we are hearing a different side of the story about old political

tensions that resurfaced. brian todd has been looking at the reports. >> according to an official, president obama and's team and hillary clinton's tamp could not get past the democratic primary campaign. naser's new book said how clinton had to fight to get her voice heard and how the top deputy was almost shutout completely. a former state department insider is out with an explosive new book detailing rifts between president obama and hillary clinton. naser worked for holbrooke at the state department under clinton. special representative for afghanistan and pakistan. naser writes that they had a good partnership, but that holbrooke and sometimes clinton were frozen out at the white house. both clinton and holbrooke, two

talented people had to fight to have their voices count. holbrooke never succeeded. it was mostly due to political bitter innocence. people closest to president obama want to settle scores for the tenacious support of clinton who is herself eyed with suspicion by the obama insiders. the white house was more interested in bringing holbrooke down than getting the policy right. we could not get naser to speak with us on camera. james ruben worked with holbrooke and albright in the clinton administration. >> i don't think it would be pofb between obama and clinton for their staffs to have worked together all that smoothly, clearly those issues carried over. >> naser writes president obama had what he called a disturbing habit of funneling major foreign policy decisions through

inexperienced white house advisers whose turf was strictly politics. they said they wouldn't do a tit for tat on the officials whose opposing officials that agency endorsed. he didn't have time to listen to holbrooke. a titan who brokered an end to yugoslavia. he was tasked with being a key point man with hamid karzai, holbrooke was not included in conferences and cut out of the revenue in afghanistan. in the end, he's a big boy and knew what he was getting into and the obama administration knew not every personnel and many people in the administration wished that the president had never chosen richard holbrooke for this important job. >> on the question of holbrooke not being included in teleconferences with karzai or

the afghanistan trips, one white house official said it was not customary to include officials in video conferences with karzai. the secrecy surrounding trips to afghanistan made it impractical to take holbrooke on the trips. we could not get a response. richard holbrooke passed away in december of 2010. wolf? >> naser is the dean of the johns hopkins school of studies. he praises hillary clinton and said she did a good job handling it with potential tensions. >> he writes that she remained loyal to richard holbrooke and through tenacity, she was able to get the president's ear going around the berlin wall of staffers to get to the president on these critical matters and he writes that if it was not for her tenacity and respect she command and they would have had no influence on policy making. that's an exaggeration, but has high compliments for her.

she commanded a respect that the obama team could not ignore. >> for comes out this month. thanks very much. now on to the manhunt in new york. police believe they identified a suspect behind a horrifying hit-and-run crash that killed a pregnant woman and her husband. the newborn was delivered by c-section, but he also has died. we are following this tragic story for us in brooklyn. give our viewers a look at what happened. >> this is a heart breaking story that it gained widespread attention far beyond this community. people were clinging to hope the baby would live, but now coming to grips with the triple tragedy and seeking justice. their baby was considered a miracle. born by c-section after both his mother and father were killed by a hit-and-run driver. one day after his parents were killed, the baby of nathan and

raisy also died. it deepened the pain of this community of ha sittic jews where they stood shoulder to shoulder for funerals of the young couple. both were 21. the brother of raisy is turning to his faith. >> you can't contemplate losing a sister and her husband and more. at once so suddenly. god created this world and this was his will. this was what he wanted. this is what he did and we accept that. >> as the shaken community mourns, they search for the hit-and-run driver who fled the scene sunday. police put out this photo identifying 44-year-old julio acevedo as a man wanted in connection with the crash. they were on the way to the hospital because the pregnant woman did not feel well. a bmw slammed into them going-over 60 miles per hour.

in this community that abides by strict religious rules, women did not want to talk publicly over modesty and people struggled not to show emotion, but in a place show tight knit, a tragedy like this one spares no one. >> we believe that now the three souls and the child. >> the rabbi we spoke with was so emotional and said it was not just a tragedy for two families, but everyone felt the pain. as for the suspect, he has a prior criminal record and spent time in jail for manslaughter. the police say he was arrested just last week on a dwi charge in a case that is still pending.

wolf? >> what a heart breaking story this is. mary snow in brooklyn for us. up next, the white house reacts to dennis rodman's controversial meeting with north korea's leader and we are getting backlash for a retirement homeworker accused of the unthinkable. letting a woman die. >> is there anybody that is willing to help this lady and not let her die? >> not at this time. it's a new day. if your a man with low testosterone, you should know that axiron is here.

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. >> per he has been a basketball star on reality stf, but who would peg dennis rodman as a guest on a talk show. a twist to the bizarre story of dennis rodman's friendship with kim jung un. we have a closer look. this kind of stuff, we can't make it up. >> you can't. this is like something out of a comic novel.

it's also why you should stay in your own sport. he traded outside and this thing took a bad bounce. >> never much for diplomacy, dennis rodman has the diplomatic world calling foul after he visited north korea partying with king jung un. >> i love him. he's awesome. >> he came home to a jaw dropping interview on abc. >> he's my friend. i don't condone what he does, but person to person, he's my friend. >> that was the theme even as the host repeatedly asked about accusations of the north korean regime starving, impruching and killing its own people. >> i great guy who puts people in prison camps? >> and guess what. we do the same thing here. the kid is only 28 years old.

28. he's not his dad or grandpa. he loves basketball. obama loves basketball. let's start there. >> at the white house, no word on president obama's reaction to that overture, but made clear that the administration is not amus amused. >> north korea ought to focus on their own citizens and opportunities to improve their lives and the united states has channels of the communication to employ. >> rodman said he will go back to north korea if he can to took pains to pass on a key message. >> he wants obama to do one thing. call him. >> here wants a call from president obama? >> that's right. he told me that. he said i don't want to do war. he said to to me. >> a little house keeping. rodman was there for a documentary working with hbo and cnn that are still owned by

time-warner. after that interview, all of his other introduce were canceled and wolf, watching that interview, i can't help but think he really wasn't aware of everything that was going on. he was aware and didn't pay enough attention. >> the human rights record. >> he acted like he never thought of it or never was told. he said he was a nice guy, but that didn't fly. >> he canceled a bunch of interviews with us as well. >> maybe it will come out. >> maybe. good report. a mystery involving a wanted terrorist. new questions about whether the man behind the attack in libya that left three americans dead is dead himself. to pick up some accessories.ad a new belt. some nylons. and what girl wouldn't need new shoes? and with all the points i've been earning, i was able to get us a flight to our favorite climbing spot even on a holiday weekend.

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. it could be a major blow to the victory in the war against terrorism. did african forces kill the man who planned january's deadly hostage siege in algeria. let's go live to barbara star working the story for us. what do you know? >> wolf, at this hour for intelligence services around the world, a key question is a top operative dead? 48 hours after the veteran jihadist who masterminded the attack on an algerian gas facility may have been killed, the u.s. is trying to figure out if it's true. the announcement came from a commander in nearby chad. >> translator: the temporary toll of the fighting is the following. several terrorists kill and among them --

>> the u.s. is not sure yet. >> we have no confirmation about the current status. >> in a forum, one jihadist claims he is still alive. if he was killed in the mounlt ans of northwestern mali by forces from chad, it's a significant blow to al qaeda in north africa. >> his death if confirmed will become a water shed event in the fight against the terroristests. >> they will not say, but after the attack left dozens dead including three americans, he was a wanted man. a senior official sold cnn the u.s. has increased sharing with both france and chad. drones flying out are providing imagery. the u.s. is also sharing electronic intercepts of phone calls and internet traffic. a retired air force intelligence

expert said al qaeda in north africa may regroup, but for now it's good news. >> operation we will have a tougher time. they put things together for them. the strategy to get them in africa, partnered and trained their military forces and shared the best intelligence that you can, but do everything to keep u.s. combat forces from having to get involved directly. wolf? >> you have word on this terrorist, let us know, thanks very much. you probably heard about this story. a newborn baby cured of hiv in a mississippi hospital. up next, one of the world's leading experts on hiv and aids said why the fight may not be over. bright students are getting lost in the shuffle. and administration's work gets more complex every year.

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. >> now to a stunning breakthrough. doctors announcing they cured a child born with the virus, something that has never been done before. could this lead to a cure for more than 1,000 babies around the world who are born with hiv every single day? our senior correspondent, elizabeth? >> this baby's case was a total fluke, the result of a mother who didn't listen to doctor's orders. it's a startling announcement. doctors say they have cured a 2-year-old in mississippi of hiv. the infection she had since birth, gone. >> it's fantastic news from any number of angles. that a child is being cure and this happened really quite easily and quite inexpensively. >> the cure came about as a fluke. the mother was born to a hiv positive mother.

the mother for some reason stopped giving them to her when she was about 15 months old and taken back to the doctor before her second birthday and the doctor found the baby with hiv-free even though she was off medication for five months. >> what fantastic news, this is something that i don't think anybody would have expected. >> the key to success might have been that the baby received relatively high doses of three drugs soon after birth. usually hiv positive newborns get low doses. if other babies could be cured after 15 months on drug, that would be huge. now the babies take these drugs for and they can be toxic. >> more studies need to be done. they paved the way for other babies to have a broiter future. the baby is not 100% hiv-free. she has fragments of dna in her system, but doctors say it doesn't affect her at all.

i spoke to the pediatrician and the baby said they are healthy and not taking hiv drugs. wolf? >> joining us now, anthony is the director of the national institute of allergy and infectious diseases. thanks very much for coming in. >> good to be here. >> how significant is this development? there is a lot of talk out there that may be we are on the verge of a cure. >> it's an important proof of concept showing the possibility on this very special circumstances such as the case with this child that you might be able to cure an individual with hiv, particularly an infant who was recently infected within hours and treated within hours. that's the good news about it. it's an important advance of showing the possibility. the personality caveat to this all is that this is a single case. we have to be careful and

conservative and not extrapolating this so people misinterpret and t and think we have a cure for hiv. we treat a baby early in the course of infection within hours after being born and infected probably during the time of passing through the birth canal. >> what's the process of moving on and taking advantage of this development to see if there can be further progress? >> the next step would be to first of all validate that in fact this is a reproduceable phenomenon. this is what the baby and mother was in. the mother was not treated at all. no prenatal care. that's not usually what you see in the developed world. the baby was at very high risk. you see that frequently in the developing world. 1,000 a day are born infected

and the next step is with all the appropriate controlled clinical trials and the ethical considerations to try to see in a situation what mimics this. you have a mother that is not treated. >> this clinical trial that is apparently going to begin. how long does this take to determine if there is something significant here worth exploring. it will take years and you do it in a sound way. then you have to follow the babies for an extensive period of time to determine if you have cured them. looks like the virus is gone and it reemerges and rebounds. if you want to have a definitive study, we are likely talking years of clinical trial.

study would be used as opposed to the stages of hiv and aids. >> we are talking about infants women don't want to confusion people. this is not directly applicable to adults. most adults don't know they are infected and they go to treatment anywhere from several weeks to months to maybe even years after they have been infected that means the virus had a good opportunity to establish a very firm reservoir in the body that makes it more difficult to cure an individual. what happened here in mississippi is something that is much more applicable to babies that are born of infected mothers where you do have the opportunity to treat them literally within hours of being infected. those are the trials that we are talking about. it doesn't yet apply and maybe not ever apply to an adult.

>> the greater impact in africa than here in the developed world like the united states. is that what you are saying? >> that's true. the opportunity to have that impact because we had pretty good preventive measures here. certainly anywhere between 100 and 200 children a year in the united states are infected from their mother. however in the whole world globally, particularly in the developing world such as the subsahara and africa, there 1,000 infacts infected per day. the opportunity to have an impact there to prevent infection as well as to cure babies who are infected, that's where you want to go if you want to prove something that is applicable. >> have you had a chance to speak with a doctor who can cure this child? >> no, i haven't had the chance to speak to them yet, but we are looking at the data. i'm sure we will have the

opportunity to discuss it with them. we did something that we call a gutsy call. she decided to treat the baby aggressively before she knew that the baby was infected. there is a risk benefit to that because if the baby is not infected, you exposed the babies to a very aggressive regimen. as it turned out, she made the right call. the baby was infect and it looked like she may have cured the baby by being aggressive with the treatment from the beginning. >> one of the world's great experts on hiv and aids. thanks for help us better appreciate what's going on. >> happy to do it, wolf. >> an elderly woman fights for her and the nurse calls 911. what happened next is shocking. >> is there anybody that works there that is willing to do it? >> we can't do that. >> we are going let this lady die?

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we are learning about the shocking death of an 87-year-old woman in a california retirement home. the staff refused to give her cpr despite desperate pleas from a 911 operator who recorded it all. miguel is in bakersfield, california and has the recordings. tell our viewers what happened. >> it is a shocking thing to say the least what happened here. that 911 dispatcher goes out to her that she did an incredible

job under incredible circumstances. bakersfield police are investigating this to see if there is any chance there was criminal wrong-doing. >> we need to get cpr started. that's not enough. >> we can't do cpr. >> hand the phone to the passerby. you hand it to the passerby who can do it. or any citizens there. >> no. >> beyond shocking, a nurse at this independent care facility for the elderly refuses to help lorraine when she collapsed on the dining room floor. >> sorry there anybody that work there is willing to do it or are we going to let this lady die? >> that's why we are calling 911. >> we can't wait right now. she is stopping breathing. >> the 911 operator practically begs the woman at the facility who identifies herself as a nurse to either help or find someone who can. >> anybody there can do cpr. give them the phone please.

this woman is not breathing enough, she going to die? do you understand? >> i understand. i am a nurse. but i cannot have our other senior citizens who don't know cpr do it. >> i can instruct them. i will instruct them. is there anyone there. >> i cannot do that. >> i don't understand why you are not willing to help this patient. >> i am. >> okay great. the ems takes the liability for this. we have protocol. >> john webber is a firefighter here for 21 years and said his department responded to glenwood gardens. >> the calls would range from people falling to full arrest. the calls where someone would fall down, they had a policy where it's hands off. they would not help. >> the management said it was a manage of liability and not wanting their employees injured helping someone else. the tennessee company that owns the facility said the woman who

called 911 was hired to be a resident services directionor, not a nurse. the glenwood gardens is an independent living facility and is not licensed to provide medical care to any residents. the facility said it followed protocol by calling emergency services and staying with the patient until emergency personnel arrived. glenwood gardens said they are conducting an internal investigation to see if employees followed protocols, but saying all their protocols were followed and this is how they wanted it to go. wolf? >> what a story this is. thanks very much. update us on what you get as part of the investigation. appreciate it very much. cardinals gathered for the selection of a new pope, but the conclave is marred by accusations of sexual abuse against the elite of the catholic clergy. oh whoa. hello? yes. i didn't realize i'd be talking to an actual person. you don't need to press "0," i'm here.

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senator menendez denied cla claims he partied with prostitutes in latin america. we may have important backing. we have new information coming in. what's going on? >> this is the latest twist in the story of democratic senator robert menendez of new jersey dogged by allegations first released by media outlets that he patronized prostitutes in the dominican republic. he denied the claims and agents said they haven't been able to find evidence to support them. there appears to be new support for the senators's denials. an escort who appears in a video who claims she sex with menendez is walking it back in a news

conference today and said she was recreted by a lawyer to make those claims after reading a script and that she never had sex with senator menendez at all. she was videotaped and may have been led to believe that the script she had been given had something to do with a divorce case. senator menendez's office had no comment when contacted this evening. questions have been raised about the ep senator's relationship with the doctor, an eye doctor from west palm beach who contributed to the campaign and took him on three trips when his private plane in 2010. he had to reimburse the doctor's company about $58,000 for travel after all of this came to light. now again an escort who said on videotape she had sex with senator robert menendez is recanting that story. >> he was presumably if this is true falsely accused, but

suffered. >> he has suffered politically. the polls there at the state of new jersey suffered drops and like 15 points. there still questions about his relationship with the doctor. >> you have to keep us up to date. thank you. >> a major winter storm is headed to the east coast and lisa sylvester is monitoring those. >> the storm is in the midwest and washington is bracing for a blast of winder when we were looking forward to spring. alexander steel joins us from the cnn weather center with more. we are going to get hit with this here in washington? is that right? >> that's right. finally we will see snow in washington. they only had about an inch and a half this season. 13 inches below average. bigges. here's a look. this is the area of low pressure.

right now, it's actually in the dakotas. it will find you, washington, but it's actually right now even around denver. i-70 through vail, closed. a 30-car pilep and blizzard conditions. because of the same area of low pressure, so that's where it is now. what we're going to see essentially is a stripe of snow, this low will move south and east and drop snow as it goes. it will bring snow and some very windy conditions, thus the blizzard conditions we're seeing now for some areas. 6 to 12 inches tomorrow in minneapolis begins late tonight through the day tomorrow. for cedar rapids, chicago, 6 to 9 for you. this is where the trouble will be tomorrow. chicago, indianapolis, 12 to 18 inches. and then what's going to happen, the models are kind of split on this. we're going to watch the snow drop. for sure we'll see the mountains through the mountains, through the appalachians. potentially 10-plus inches of snow, but what happens is that area of low pressure right now in the dakotas drops south and ooets, becomes an area of low

pressure, developing off the coast, and that potentially, where it goes, its track and how much cold air are the two caveats we're still a little unsure of, but washington, at least though, 5 to 10 inches of snow for you on wednesday. the heaviest, though, in the mountains. >> i know what people are wondering in this area? what did i do with the sled? got time to pull out the sled. >> that's right. at least before the cherry blossoms have hit, we got some snow. >> that's right, one time. all right, thanks, alexandra. in other news, the vtcon acknowledged today that benedict xvi knew about the sex allegations against the scottish cardinal before he stepped down as pope. it's another cloud over church as cardinals gather in rome today. they're deciding when the hold the conclave to choose the nest pope. not all of them will get to vote on the next leader of the catholic church. the vatican says a new pope could be in place before march 16th. that would give him a little more than a week to prepare for

palm sunday. while misholl obama is encouraging people to exercise, she's walking the walk or dancing the dance, as the case may be. >> what is your favorite dance move? >> it's obviously the dougie, you know? can you guys do a little dougie? raise the roof is a good one. there we go. we've got the brewer students doing a little dougie. teach me how to dougie. come on, all are participants. kelly, we need everybody. do a little dougie. oh, yeah. there we go. we're dougieing all over the land. >> all right. that was the first lady during a google hang out, and this was her on late night with jimmy fallon in a sketch called the evolution of bomb dancing that has racked up more than 14 million hits on youtube. there she goes. and of course, i know just like mrs. obama, wolf, you are a big fan of the dougie.

but that's obvious. there you go. >> teach me how to dougie, doug e. fresh. a great guy. there he is at the b.e.t. soul train awards where he actually did teach me how to do the dougie, very poorly, but i had a great time. >> he was just in washington. fantastic show. fantastic. it was for the congressional black caucus foundation. so that was a treat, wolf. >> doug e. fresh, great guy. thanks very much. erin burnett is going "outfront" on mental illness linked to the neutw newtown, connecticut, massacre. what's going on? >> we'll talk to a woman testifying in washington. she wrote a blog, i am adam lanza's mother. her son at one point threatened to kill her and kill himself. she joins us to talk about that and why she wants to be the face of this issue across the country. >> and mockder, is he really dead? and our essay tonight on the

kicker, a woman who applied to be the kicker. we have a strong point of view on how that went down, and there is someone to blame. it's not her. back to you. >> did not do a great job, but she's got a huge future, i suspect. >> are you doing a little dougie, too? >> no, i saw you doing it, wolf. you were so good. >> i'm going to practice more. you and i, we're going to praths together, get doug e. fresh to help us. >> that would be help. >> enough, enough. doug e. can -- all right. earlier, we told you about what's going on with dennis rodman's post-north korean antics. up next, jeanne moos with what you probably didn't see in the worm's return to the united states. that's his nickname, the worm. nurses are dealing with a wider range of issues. and there are ever-changing regulations. when you see these challenges, do you want to back away or take charge?

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